A New Year brings new experiences, new challenges and new opportunities. We are in charge of creating most of these. Over the next several weeks I will be bringing new content to you around preparing for a new career, from why you should seek one, what to expect and even how to prepare for your interviews. So let’s jump right in with five reasons WHY you should quit your job. Now, I am not encouraging or recommending you quit your job without having a back up plan. We all have bills to pay and lives to fulfill. And, last time I checked, the odds of winning the lottery are still 1 in 302.6 million according to Google. So please note, these are reasons through my experiences with additional means of support when I made career changes. I would never recommend quitting without a plan!

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You Hate It

As cliche’ or as harsh as this sounds, it’s the cold hard truth. Your zest, ambition and drive are dead in the water or close to it. You are miserable, waking each day as if it’s all you can do to get through it. The desire to be there has fizzled. You find that you are filled with dread as you drive in and merely walk into the building. IT IS TIME TO GO. You spend more hours at work than you do with your family, friends and significant others. If you are not enjoying your life during that amount of time, it’s simply not worth it my friend. No amount of money is ever worth living in misery!

Alignment Has Changed

Hopefully, you chose this career or organization because it had a purpose that aligned with your goals and ambitions. It resonated with you from the time you selected this career in school or from the moment you had your interview. However, years have passed and now you find that either you have changed or perhaps the career field or organization has at this point. I can recall going into teaching because of my passion to connect with community. I wanted to inspire, encourage and foster positivity with elementary children. I held that career for twelve years. But, during the last two years of my career, I began to change and so did the district and the state I taught in. Demands continued to increase yet the pay was frozen. Personally, I began to have this burning desire to grow as well. I wanted more for myself, the challenge of a new career field. You can read more about that decision here. While insanely difficult, it was one of the best decisions I have ever made.

Lack of Growth

I have always desired to grow and become better regardless of what I have been involved in. Your career should be no different. If you are no longer being challenged, you’re no longer growing. This will lead to absolute boredom and a mundane career. Now, this doesn’t mean you have to keep changing positions or maybe it does. The simple truth is that if you are no longer learning and stretching your abilities, you need to change. If not, the lack of growth will certainly bleed into the other areas already noted above.

Loss of Self-worth

This is heavy and honestly should be listed as #1. By the way, these are not ranked as I most certainly would move this one if they were! YOU ARE WORTH MORE THAN ANY CAREER, ANY EMPLOYER OR ANY MANAGER. Yes, I am shouting here as it’s just that important. Now, let me be clear, none of us are perfect. We all have room for opportunity. However, hear me loud and clear, when you know in your gut and for a fact that you are being treated unfairly, unjustly and down right degraded as a human being, it’s time to leave. But, if you have the proof and the courage, you should also stand up for yourself. You should never allow anyone to humiliate you and make you feel like you are less than worthy. If you have the support you need perhaps you may stay. But truthfully, more likely than not, it’s reason to make a change as it could simply no longer be the right fit. Remember, you are not defined by a job. At the end of the day, it’s a job and guess what, you will find another one!

Stress is Winning

Every job will have stress. There will be ebbs and flows of projects and deadlines that will most certainly cause stress. But, if you are reaching the point of stress on a daily basis, you must ask yourself is this truly worth it? When stress wins, your health loses. You may think you have it under control until you no longer have it under control. Stress can literally be the silent killer. Believe me, it will add up and before you know it, it will catch up with you. Know the signs, when you can no longer maintain your normal sleep routine, it’s winning. Constant headaches, it’s winning. Chugging caffeine to get through the day, it’s winning. You are continually getting sick, it’s winning. Without your sleep, and the ability to rest, other issues will begin to arise. Your cognitive abilities will be impacted, and even weight gain. Health is wealth and if you spend more time stressing over your current job, you won’t be able to truly enjoy life outside of the workplace much less your retirement years!

It’s Okay

Just know that it’s going to be okay. It may take some time, but you will figure it out and things will fall into place as they should. At the end of the day, you have to take care of you. No one else can do this for you. As daunting as it may seem, and truly scary, life is short. If you are not happy with your career, change it. You only have one life. Go live it and live it well. You’ve got this!